US dockworkers suspend strike that closed eastern ports

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A strike that closed US east and Gulf coast ports will be suspended after the dockworkers’ union and the group representing ocean carriers reached an agreement on Thursday.

The agreement extends the International Longshoremen’s Association’s employment contract, which had expired, until January 15. It will allow them to return to work for the first time in three days, the union and the shipping lines’ group said in a joint statement.

Negotiations, which had been at an “impasse” over wages and automation for months, would now continue, the statement said.

The work stoppage had threatened to upend the US economy by snarling global supply chains and halting imports of fresh foods, pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods. JPMorgan analysts estimated that it could cost the US economy as much as $4.5bn a day

A coalition of 272 trade groups representing retailers, farmers, restaurants, meat processors, truckers and other industries had called the work stoppage a “dire situation” with “massive negative ramifications for our industries and the economy” in a letter to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday begging him to intercede.

This is a developing story